29th September 2006

Match Report

England suffered their first defeat of the women's World Cup in Madrid - and the loss of captain Kate Walsh with a serious-looking knee injury could prove to be an even bigger blow.

Danny Kerry's side were trailing to a Janneke Schopman penalty corner when the Slough defender, winning her 164th cap, felt the full force of Fatima Moreira de Melo's stick as the Dutch player cleared the ball just before half-time.

Walsh, 26, left the pitch on a stretcher in considerable pain and was taken straight to hospital for treatment on her left knee.

The defeat, coming after an opening win over China, has not done too much damage to England's semi-final hopes as they have group matches against hosts Spain, Olympic champions Germany and India to come.

However, any long-term injury to defensive lynchpin Walsh could well be felt later in the tournament.

Holland scored from their first penalty corner in the 14th minute when the ball was moved to the right and then switched back to the left, where Schopman came in on the far post unmarked to slap home.

England did not manage a shot on goal until the 19th minute when Slough forward Alex Danson's reverse-stick shot was comfortably palmed away by Lisanne de Roever.

The Slough forward was then crowded out in the 25th minute as she tried to fashion a chance after a quick counter-attack from a Dutch penalty corner at the other end.

Holland's Sophie Polkamp dragged her set-piece wide four minutes from the interval - before England lost Walsh and, with her departure, much of their defensive stability.

A glaring miss by Eefke Mulder, who skewed wide of an open goal after being set up by Sylvia Karres, saw England escape with just a 1-0 half-time deficit.

England began more brightly after the interval, and nine minutes in a half-chance fell to Ipswich's Jo Ellis. But she was pushed out on her reverse stick, and here shot went wide.

Very few clear-cut chances were created as Holland were prepared to be patient, faced with an improved England performance which could just not get a break in the circle.

Kerry said: "I thought in the first 10 minutes some of our girls played nervously, which I couldn't understand because this was a win-win match for us - no-one expected us to beat Holland."

"They got on top after they scored but we started to find our way back into the match and in the second half we were probably the better side."

"But a few of our inexperienced players on the forward line couldn't quite turn the pressure into an end product."

On Walsh's injury the England coach said: "It doesn't look good. I don't think she will be available for some time."